Busking

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Author	Message
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	June 24th, 2008 at 09:58am Anybody here do it? Anybody here ever done it? What do you think? What instrument do you play? Any tips? I want to do it. I play the piano and plan on bringing my keyboard outside my local supermarket, where most people around here busk. I'm just having trouble with the type of music I should play. I am with the ABRSM and I play the piano. I am grade eight (the very top one, before you go onto diplomas) but I just won't be able to play grade eight music in the freezing cold, especially on a keyboard. I don't like keyboards for piano. I like keyboards for effects and such, but it's not like I can drag a piano on my back. Anyway, any advice for me or anybody else?
Patriots and Tyrants Student Shakespeare Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 7021	June 24th, 2008 at 11:58am Sometimes songs that everyone will recognise played very well are effective. They go "Wow. I know that song. She's amazing" and give money. I would not recommend playing trumpet with a friend and forgetting a tuner. You have people telling you to be quiet.
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	June 25th, 2008 at 07:11am LOL XD Well, I don't play the trumpet anyway, so I'm pretty safe
ChemicallyImbalanced Wordsmith Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 10251	June 25th, 2008 at 01:12pm My friend busks with a clarinet. She plays songs that most adults know so that when the walk past they recognise the song and enjoy it more. That's about all the advice I can give you.
shotgun opera Fanfic Fanatic Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 1774	June 25th, 2008 at 01:50pm ^Play songs that adults know. They're the most likely to tip you.
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	June 27th, 2008 at 10:51am I don't know what songs adults know >_> Lol, but I'll try. Thanks. Also, I don't want anything that's too hard. The keyboard sucks =/
Blue Demon Fanfic Fanatic Age: 24 Gender: Female Posts: 1368	June 27th, 2008 at 01:18pm Make sure that where you go you won't be arrested. That's the only bit of advice I can give.
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	June 28th, 2008 at 02:14am Thank you XD That would help quite a bit >_>
Oh.Mercy.Me. Writer's Block Age: 23 Gender: Female Posts: 13	June 29th, 2008 at 05:57pm A friend of mine was busking at a bus stop once. I remember him telling me that most people recognized songs that were top on billboards and things at one time or another. I'm not really one for pop-type music, but that's what most people know and that's probably your best bet.
Mia Bell. Ink Slinger Age: 87 Gender: Female Posts: 959	July 4th, 2008 at 12:08am You should play songs that would sound really hard to a musically challenged person. - usually a lot of people. xD - But anyway, they'll be like, "Oh wow!!! She's very talented!!!" Which I take it you are so it shoulnd't be to hard for you. xD
doll face. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 1066	August 13th, 2008 at 05:14pm You have to be very careful about busking, especially in big towns and cities. For certain areas, if not the whole town, you'll probably be required to have a busker's license, and if you don't have one or at least a reference number if you happen to get questioned, you'll probably get fined a lot more than you actually earn in the first place. The chances are you won't be stopped and asked, but you can never be too careful! A £20 license to cover you for 365 days is nothing compared to a £600 fine, tbh. I should be getting my license January 2009. I've done a little bit of unofficial 'busking' around Bournemouth before for fun. I've had people try to give me money before when I was just practicing in the gardens, actually. It's a hard life.
Black and White Grammar Guru Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 4227	August 14th, 2008 at 08:37am How much have any of you guys made from busking?
ZoeePea Fanfic Fanatic Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 1904	August 17th, 2008 at 01:21pm We let buskers stand outside the shop that I work in. We give them a power supply and a huge umbrella if it's raining. One boy, only 11, managed to get £80 in an hour by playing Van Halen and Aerosmith and FOB on the guitar. It was actually amazing.
Kevin. Amateur Author Age: 18 Gender: Female Posts: 179	August 19th, 2008 at 01:40am Double post DX Sorry!
Kevin. Amateur Author Age: 18 Gender: Female Posts: 179	August 19th, 2008 at 01:40am ZoeePea: One boy, only 11, managed to get £80 in an hour by playing Van Halen and Aerosmith and FOB on the guitar. It was actually amazing. I'd love to busk, but it just doesn't work with drums Unless you have a tuned instrument over the top it just doesn't sound great when played for more than a few minutes. Unless there's another drummer listening, they're the only ones who really seem to appreciate it
Flightless Bird; Cliché Catastrophe Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 521	August 24th, 2008 at 07:43pm Ah, busking. I'll probably spend my summer playing keyboards and singing in resturants next year. I recommend buying a good jazz standards/ easy listening song book. Like people above me have said, adults are the people most likely to tip you. =]
pulmonary archery. Ink Slinger Age: 17 Gender: Female Posts: 985	August 27th, 2008 at 03:03pm Kevin.: I'd love to busk, but it just doesn't work with drums Unless you have a tuned instrument over the top it just doesn't sound great when played for more than a few minutes. Unless there's another drummer listening, they're the only ones who really seem to appreciate it I'd love to busk too, but it doesn't work so great with bass guitar either. There's not enough excitement there, and it can get way too repetitive.
Laceration Gravity Grammar Guru Age: 15 Gender: - Posts: 4476	August 29th, 2008 at 03:25pm I'd really like to busk, but in Crawley where we live, people are total anti - good music in general. Does anybody know how I'd go about getting a busker's lisence?
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	August 29th, 2008 at 04:04pm Laceration Gravity: I'd really like to busk, but in Crawley where we live, people are total anti - good music in general. Does anybody know how I'd go about getting a busker's lisence? City Council?
twiggy Cliché Catastrophe Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 302	September 26th, 2008 at 07:14am Busking is fun. I'm a bit of a singer, but you can't just stand and sing, you have to look like you haven't just walked past and decided to do it spontaneously You have to have quite a few songs to work with.

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